Excerpt 9:
“Glad you all could make it,” Cozy smirked, walking up to the original meeting spot with Troth.
“Yeah, we’re here,” Candid said in an angry tone. “Now where’s my item.”
“I said that you would get it back once we’re done here.”
“Does Rookie even have plan?” Droll asked.
“Somewhat,” Cozy replied. “But for the most part, we’ll have to wing it. Oh, no offense, Opul.”
Opul grumbled in anger, but she couldn’t tell that Cozy said that on purpose, fueling her mirror pain into resentment.
“You better watch yourself, Cozy,” Candid began.
“Hey, you mess with the bull, you get the horns. No offense, Droll.”
“Can we just go?” Opul cut in.
“No, not yet,” Troth said. “We still need to wait for Lenia.”
“No,” Cozy declined. “We can’t risk her being a part of this group. Her parents work for this palace, remember? She could rat us out.”
Troth wanted to protest, but the sight of everyone else staring at her made her submit. “Fine, let’s go.”
“Okay, same as yesterday, everypony,” Cozy said, ignoring the fact that most of the crew were non-ponies.
“Um, yeah, aren’t you forgetting one tiny detail, Shirley?” Opul asked sarcastically.
Cozy instantly turned to Opul with a murderous look. She was about to lose her mind at the name until Droll cut in.
“Earth pony not here. One less creature to carry.”
“Droll’s right,” Troth agreed. “Candid can carry Opul. Cozy and I can-.” Troth turned to Cozy only to find her glaring furiously. “Cozy can go and check to see if the coast is clear. I can handle Droll.”
Cozy didn’t even give Troth a look of appreciation. Instead, she just began flying up to the original window that the group had entered through the day before.
Five seconds passed and grunts from Troth were already heard.
“How pegasus so strong?” Droll questioned.
After a few gasps of air from Troth, she finally answered. “Martial arts practicing can sure build up endurance.”
Droll smiled and hugged on to Troth affectionately. Troth blushed uncomfortably before muttering “oh dear Celestia, help me.”
Cozy reached the original window, only to find that it had been blocked off.
“Oh no,” Candid said with obvious false panic. “Looks like we can’t go further. I’ll take my stuff now, Cozy.”
Cozy rolled her eyes in annoyance before continuing on down the rest of the palace. “When I left here yesterday, I left a window unlocked.” Cozy scanned the community to find familiar features of where she left the palace before her eyes landed on her target. “It’s right there. Come on.”
Cozy flew at full speed to the window as Candid followed behind with Troth still only flying at half the normal speed. When Cozy reached the window, she touched her hooves to it to see if it was still opened. Sure enough, it was unlocked, and Cozy slowly got inside, looking back out to make sure everyone else followed her lead.
Troth was about to give out with Droll’s weight until she was able to make it through the window, guided by Cozy.
“Make sure we are all quiet this time,” Cozy scolded.
“Can yaks even be quiet?” Opul asked lightheartedly as she was gently placed down by Candid.
“Yaks best at a lot of things,” Droll whispered. “Maybe yaks not best at quiet, but yak will try best.”
“Good,” Candid said. “We don’t need another occurrence like last time.”
Opul widened her eyes in fear as she felt her wing stub again. Her breath was beginning to get shaky until Candid intervened.
“It won’t happen again, Opul,” Candid convinced. “I’ll make sure of it.”
Opul smiled at Candid’s reassurance before she put on a brave face.
“Eyes out, Candid,” Cozy said. “Look for guards. Opul, look for hiding places for emergencies. Droll, try not to crash into anything.”
Droll looked at Cozy with an unamused stare before rolling his eyes.
The five of them quietly traveled through the halls.
“Does Rookie have plan?” Droll asked quietly.
Cozy huffed. She still found that name annoying. “I have a goal.”
“But no plan?” Opul asked.
“Are you stupid?” Candid insensitively said.
“Listen. I can’t go into great detail of it, but I have a plan that will work,” Cozy persuaded.
The non-ponies stared skeptically at Cozy until Troth intervened. “She says she knows what she’s doing. We’ve gotten this far. Let’s finish this out.”
Cozy nodded appreciatively at Troth before returning to take the lead down the hallway. As she walked, she glanced at the storage room where she had first found her rook again.
“We should’ve brought Lenia,” Troth admitted. “She knows this place better than any of us. Do we even know where we’re going?”
“I was just here this morning,” Cozy declared. “Trust me.”
Cozy continued to lead the way, flying in the air stealthily with Troth while Candid, Opul and Droll walked behind them. They finally turned to a new hallway with windows that lit a majority of the walkway, but unfortunately, several guards were there a distance down, searching everywhere for potential intruders.
“Do I even need to say anything?” Candid asked.
Cozy hid back at the corner, peeking her head around to get a good look down the corridor. There must have been 15 guards all lined up, defending something. What could they have been guarding? Contume’s room wasn’t for another couple of hallways.
“Oh no, I think I know what this is,” Troth whispered. “If there are several guards in this hallway, there must be even more before Emperor Contume’s room.”
“Well, we’re done for,” Candid said calmly. “Let’s go home.”
“I second that,” Opul agreed. “Let’s just quit while we’re ahead.”
“Yak want justice, but even yak doesn’t feel so good,” Droll added.
“We’re not leaving,” Cozy responded. “We’re going to find a way.”
“But how?” Troth asked. “These guards are making it slightly difficult.”
“When I was here last night with Lenia, we were able to control the paths here to bring us directly where we wanted to go. We’ve just got to take detours through these rooms and avoid the guards as best we can.”
“Yeah?” Candid began. “And what if we accidentally wander into a populated room?”
Cozy regarded Candid with cold eyes. “If you all can shutup during that, we’ll be fine. It’s night so the only ponies here are either guarding or asleep. We should be able to spot the guards easily. Actually, you should be able to spot the guards easily.” Cozy got closer to Candid to whisper to him, making sure no one else could hear her. “And do make sure we don’t get caught. You wouldn’t want Opul to be hurt again, would you?”
Candid widened his eyes furiously as Cozy turned away. “Okay, Opul. Which doors have you found for us to go through?”
Troth leaned in to whisper to Cozy as Opul looked around. “Couldn’t you have searched for the doors yourself?”
Cozy whispered back to Troth. “I just want to make sure she knows who’s in charge.”
Finally, Opul crept to a door that was close enough to the corner of the hallway for them to enter without being noticed by the nightguards. The 5 of them slipped through the opening and proceeded to adjust to a new version of darkness until Opul breathed slight fire, providing for a small light source.
“Dragon genius,” Droll praised.
Cozy looked ahead at the room they were currently in, learning soon that it was a small alcove. She looked ahead to find another door to which she marched through. Looking back at the rest of the crew, Cozy saw Opul was getting short of breath as Droll was still trying to keep his head straight up due to his lopsided weight.
Pathetic, Cozy thought.
She opened the door to have a peek outside. The hallways looked bright enough and vacant with more doors in front of her. She clenched her eyes shut to remember where their end goal was. They’d have to go straight through, make a couple of turns, and then the number of guards would point them in the right direction.
Behind Cozy, Droll grunted in frustration.
“Shhh,” Cozy hushed.
“Yak can’t seem to balance,” Droll said, trying to focus.
Cozy perched her eyebrows in concern at the situation before she persisted forward through the next door. Immediately, the sound of snoring filled her ears through the pitch black darkness. With the leftover brightness from the hallway illuminating her face, Cozy mouthed the word “back.” Candid rolled his eyes until he turned to one direction of the hallway, causing a panicked expression to spread across his face. Instantly, Cozy knew it meant guards.
The 5 rushed into the dormitory quickly with Candid closing the door behind them, but the urgency of their split-second decision finally caused Droll to lose his balance. He set out his right cloven hoof to stop his fall, but his single horn knocked against the wall, creating a CLUNK sound.
The sound of the snoring in the room stopped, and Cozy widened her eyes in fear. Why does he have to ruin everything? Cozy thought.
“Who’s there?” an adult voice in the dark called out.
The 5 said nothing, but rather just stayed in the dark, motionless, hoping the pony would go back to sleep.
“Sweetie, go see what that is,” the stallion said.
The sound of soft hoof prints touched the ground and started getting louder in the group’s direction. Cozy held her breath to keep as quiet as she could, and the rest of the group followed her lead.
The inevitable sound of a light switch sounded, and Cozy was prepared to meet her fate, but she was not ready for what followed.
Cozy’s eyes finally adjusted to the light where she saw the earth pony staring from right in front of her with a surprised look on her face. Finally, it turned into a smile.
“It’s okay, daddy,” she whispered softly, turning the lights off again. “Something just fell.”
The earth pony’s hoofsteps were heard walking to the far end of the room until the light from a freshly opened door provided for the escape route. The 5 crept silently to the light source where they emerged into another hallway.
The earth pony closed the door behind her and gave a tired smile before a puzzled expression. “What are you 5 doing here?”
“Lenia,” Troth cheered quietly. “We’re so happy to see you. You’re our saving grace.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been happy to see you until now,” Candid said without hesitation.
“Um, thanks, I-I think,” Lenia said.
“What are you doing here though?” Opul asked. “I thought you lived elsewhere.”
“I do, but my parents have bits of the night shift and an early day shift this time so they didn’t allow me to stay at my house alone. But you still haven’t told me why you’re here.”
“We’re here to get Cozy’s chess piece back,” Troth said with confidence.
“No, Troth,” Candid replied. “Don’t answer unless you’re sure.”
“Group here to put end to emperor’s tyranny,” Droll answered. “Yak now see Emperor Contume from different angle.”
Lenia was confused before she understood Droll’s play on words. “Oh dear, what happened to your neck?”
“Emperor Contume happened,” Opul spoke up. “He maimed Droll before using some sort of toy to hurt me too.” She turned around to show Lenia what happened.
“And he was going to hurt me too, but I managed to get away,” Candid informed.
“Lenia,” Troth began, smiling brightly. “Now that you’re here, you can help us.”
“Help you?” Lenia repeated.
“Yes, you can help us retrieve Cozy’s rook.”
“Troth,” Cozy finally said. “That’s not the entire reason we’re here.”
Troth tilted her head in confusion at Cozy. “But that’s what you told me-.”
“That’s only a part of the reason. What Droll said is the full goal.”
“Oh no,” Troth realized.
“But you’re still going to help, right?” Cozy asked innocently.
Troth considered what they were about to do, wanting to say “no,” that she wouldn’t proceed, until she finally answered. “Of course. I’m with you to the end.”
“I don’t think I can say the same,” Lenia said. “I'm sorry.”
“Fine, who needs you?” Candid said.
“Wait, no no,” Troth halted. “We do. Lenia, please, we need your help if we’re going to stand any chance against Emperor Contume.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can do anything to help you.”
“If you were really Troth’s friend, you’d do it,” Cozy chimed in, hiding her smirk.
Lenia widened her eyes, considering Cozy’s words. She still wanted to say no, but she couldn’t escape the feeling that she would be abandoning a friend in need. She looked down at the floor before accepting. “Fine, count me in.”
Candid and Opul exchanged nervous looks. They were still worried that Lenia would rat them out.
“Perfect,” Cozy smiled. “Now I think we still need to go through some of these doors and make some turns before getting to Contume’s office.”
Lenia glanced at Cozy. “Oh, is that the path you’ve been using? Why not just take the shorter path?”
“There’s a shorter path?” Troth asked.
“Follow me,” Lenia smiled as she led the way.
Lenia marched down the hallway in jollity while the rest of the crew followed her lead close behind. When Lenia turned a corner, Cozy backed up to be hidden. Through the next hallway was a swarm of guards, twice as many as the previous hallway had.
“We have to go around,” Troth said. “There’s no getting passed them.”
“That’s Emperor Contume’s throneroom right there,” informed Lenia. “There’s no finding another way.”
“It’s not like we can just waltz right on through,” Cozy said.
Lenia turned to the pink pony. “Do you trust me?”
Cozy almost didn’t trust anything with the situation, but she decided that Lenia was their only hope, so she reluctantly nodded her head.
“Good,” Lenia said. “Now stay out of sight really quick, and leave this all to me.”
Lenia took a deep breath before marching into the swarm of guards. Cozy’s jaw dropped, but Troth gave her a reassuring look, as if to tell her to have more faith.
“Attention, everypony,” Lenia declared, visibly sweating due to her nerves. “My parents, Sunflower and Nightfall have noticed the non ponies sneaking in yet again. They have held some of the guards captive and they need all the reinforcements they can get. The guards are being held hostage by the non-ponies in the lower west wing, and the creatures have declared that they want revenge for what happened yesterday.”
With that note, Lenia backed up to one side of the hall as the guards bared their shields in unison before marching in mass away from the door. By the time all the guards were cleared, Lenia finally released her posture, panting in and out hard.
“Oh dear Celestia,” Lenia said. “Why did I do that? That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
Cozy was so relieved at the fact that Lenia just saved the mission that she engulfed her in a massive hug. Troth was soon to join in. Lenia then gave a nervous sound, causing Cozy and Troth to release their grip.
“Oh right,” Troth said. “You don’t like being up close and personal.”
Candid still looked puzzled. “How did you know that would work?”
“I combined two of the guards’ interests, their loyalty to their fellow guards and,” Lenia sighed, “their hatred of non-ponies . . .”
Droll frowned before Opul chimed in on the questions. “But aren’t you afraid that your parents will be blamed for the false alarm.”
Lenia gave a big grin as if trying not to laugh before Troth explained. “Her parents are the second-in-command. These guards answer to them. All Lenia has to do is play the dumb-card.”
“Maybe you can learn to master that from Cozy,” Candid said.
“Shutup, Candid!” Droll yelled.
Lenia turned to Cozy. “Because of how big this palace is, I just bought you about twenty minutes of unhindered time with Contume.”
“Thankyou, Lenia,” Cozy gratefully stated. “I think we’re ready.”
Cozy smirked at the rest of her group before turning to enter the throne room. She took a deep breath before the flashbacks of Pent pierced her memories. Cozy fell to the floor, clenching her stomach as if the wounds were still fresh.
Cozy was beginning to gasp for air when Troth rested a hoof on her back.
“It's okay, Cozy,” Troth reassured. “You don't have to be afraid.”
Cozy blinked hard before widening her eyes in fear at Troth, but the older pegasus just gave a positive smile back.
“Remember the first thing you said to me?” Troth asked. “You said ‘where's my castle?’ Well, we've finally found it, Cozy, and it's right there on your flank. You don't have to be afraid of Contume because you've gotten your cutiemark in taking out anything threatening, remember? Now let's get in there and show Contume just who we are.”
Cozy took a deep breath before giving Troth an appreciative smile. She blinked hard then put on a look of determination, leading the charge into the throneroom. With great force, Cozy slammed into the throneroom door while her team assembled behind her. Contume was there sitting at his desk in front of his vase of daisies by the time all of the group was inside. Immediately, Cotume was alerted to their presence and turned to face Cozy.
“It’s over, Contume,” Cozy stated, keeping her voice from portraying her inner fear.
“What’s over?” Contume asked.
“This whole tyranny you’ve been up to. This all ends right now.”
Contume laughed. “What are you talking about?”
“The way you treat your civilians isn’t right. You’re going to tell everyone that Tourettes isn’t a threat anymore.”
“It’s Tirek, you moron!” Candid yelled at her, apparently already knowledgeable of the lie.
Contume smirked at all of them. “Aww, you’re all cute. But what are any of you going to do? You’re all a bunch of kids and inferior non-ponies.”
“You’d be surprised on what we’re capable of,” Troth declared.
Contume turned towards Lenia, his face momentarily taking on a look of genuine shock. “You too, Lenia? What will your parents think of your betrayal?”
Lenia widened her eyes at the realization
“It’s treason what you’re doing, Lenia. And your parents will probably kick you out for that. I took mercy on you once, but I don’t think I can spare you again.”
“You took mercy on her because she’s a pony,” Troth said.
Contume switched his glance to Troth. “Oh, yes. I believe since all ponies are inherently good, they deserve to be left with a warning. Why do you think that I didn’t have my guards shoot you out of the sky when you left my palace yesterday?”
Troth widened her eyes. “What? You saw me leave?”
“Of course. I saw you were intruding on the palace, but I wanted to make sure you didn’t get hurt, so I ordered guards to offer you safe passage without you knowing about it. I don’t want anything bad to happen to this community’s number one nurse.”
Troth gasped. She clearly didn’t know what to think anymore.
“You’re only protective to the ponies,” Candid accused.
“Oh, Candid, can’t you see that’s not true?” Contume disagreed. “I know that non-ponies can cause disharmony in many cases, but I’ve offered them civilization here to keep them safe.”
“Then how do you explain these harsh punishments you’ve tortured non-ponies with?” Opul demanded.
Contume smiled at Opul. “Non-ponies can be quite the troublemakers, but all that can be corrected. Without punishments, nopony would ever listen. Do you feel the need to be corrected again?”
Opul widened her eyes and backed up. “No, sir.”
“Yak hear enough!” Droll intervened. “Contume is pain in yak’s neck. In both ways!”
“Is this about your family picture, Droll?” Contume asked.
Droll’s anger was replaced with pure curiosity.
“It’s okay, Droll,” Contume continued. “I still have it. I only took it so I can add it to the picture frame of members in this community. You’re free to go and see it anytime you want.”
Cozy began to realize that Contume was not making things worse for himself as she thought he was going to do. She looked around to see a panicked Opul, a nervous Lenia, a misguided Troth, and a reassured Droll, all of whom were not so much with Cozy as before.
“Stop with your lies, Contume!” Candid yelled. “If you really were like that, you wouldn’t have taken my paddleball away!”
Contume put on a face of compacted confusion before his face stretched into realization. “Oh right, I know what you’re talking about. I take away things that look like weapons for the safety of this community.”
“Well, that’s a game. It’s not a weapon!”
“I know. That’s why the moment I figured it out, I requested for you to come back to me to reclaim it, but you never did.”
Cozy hated the fact that she had to rely on Candid to stay on her side, but she finally spoke. “Don’t listen to him! You know he’s only using this paddle ball talk to gain power over you.”
Contume turned to Cozy. “I’m just telling him the facts. Actually, now that you’re here, Candid, I can finally give you back that paddleball, but I’ve tried looking for it today, and I couldn’t find it. Do you have any idea where it could’ve gone to?”
Candid narrowed his eyes and turned to Cozy.
Contume smirked at the sight. “Are you sure Cozy’s not the one who’s using it to gain power over you?”
Candid’s eyes fluttered wide open in realization before melting into pure rage towards Cozy, causing the pink pony to look around at the group of friends who were once on her side.
“It looks to me that the only one who’s standing in your way is the youngest one out of all of you.”
The 3 non-ponies turned to Cozy in anger while Lenia and Troth were still stuck in decision, oblivious to the threat given to Cozy.
Contume laughed. “Good. Now please, deal with this filly. We don’t want someone like this polluting this community now, do we?”
The three non-ponies surrounded Cozy, ready to pounce, Candid offering one last head shake of disapproval before Cozy was able to think of her last ditch effort.
“Contume ate your bunny!” Cozy yelled, shielding herself with her wings.
Opul readjusted her pose. “. . . what?”
The statement was enough to catch Droll and Candid off guard as well.
Cozy lowered her wings down to where she could meet Opul’s eyes. “You know that bunny that Contume took from you when you first got here? He cooked him up and ate him.”
Opul’s eyes widened in horror.
Contume laughed again. “That’s absurd, little one. Ponies don’t eat bunnies.”
“Except for you,” Cozy pointed. “Just this morning, you told me that a white dragon gave you her bunny as payment, and it tasted delicious. You even told me not to knock it until I’ve tried it.”
Opul’s sadness turned into pure rage.
“I think you’re mistaken,” Contume said, but Opul was sold.
“You also told me that every time one of the new civilians comes here and they give you a picture, you use it to fuel your fire.”
Droll looked at Contume with piercing eyes.
“I told you that I add all those pictures to a frame.”
“Then where is this frame?” Cozy asked.
“It is in Town Hall,” Contume replied without missing a beat.
Cozy stopped for a moment. “. . . Wow, every picture?”
“Yes, I put every picture I’ve received there in Town Hall.”
“Then how do you explain the griffon picture I found in your safe?”
Contume subtly widened his eyes, but Cozy was still already on the dot, flying straight back to the safe at full speed before she was stopped halfway through with a bright yellow aura wrapping around her waist.
Cozy’s eyes widened in pure fear at the feeling of being suspended by magic again. Contume pulled Cozy back away from the safe, pushing her to the ground and gripping a hold of the rest of her friends, snapping Troth and Lenia from their daze.
“Oh, kids,” Contume began. “You came so close, but not really, of course.”
Cozy tried to struggle out of the grip of the magic, but this wasn’t like before where she could try to hit at Contume to distract him into releasing his grip. Contume tightened his hold on the six and forced them to the ground.
Cozy’s eyes widened in dark memories. “I want to go home!” She yelled to herself.
Contume’s laugh filled the room as the six creatures struggled to move. “This is way better than I originally had in mind.
Cozy stared in confusion through her tears.
“Oh, don’t look so surprised, Cozy,” Contume continued. “Why do you think that I kept that window unlocked for you? I knew you were planning a mutiny. Why do you think I did nothing to stop you either? Well, this is the perfect chance to be rid of you 6 and have everypony here know what the non-ponies are secretly planning. They even had the ability to convince you 3 ponies to join in their aggression. And once I am rid of you 6, I will be seen as the permanent hero here while everypony else finally knows the true nature behind the other species.” Contume tightened his magic grip on the six, completely disregarding whatever pain they were in. “That’s why there were so many guards tonight. We were all waiting for you and your non-pony friends to show up to be caught. We didn’t count on Lenia though.”
Lenia’s mouth was shut under the force of Contume’s magic, but she managed a squeal of pain under the great force.
“Oh, poor Lenia,” Contume said in false sympathy. “If only you chose better friends, you could have spared yourself the pain you’re experiencing. Not all of you deserve to die though. It’s better if my citizens here can see you as the monsters you are. Troth, you'll finally be charged for the murder you did that I so kindly overlooked. Opul, hopefully you weren’t getting used to having one wing because your other will be removed right after this. Droll, I’ll be doing you a favor by removing your other horn. You’ll look like a fool but that’s perfect for you. Candid, you won’t be able to stealth as well anymore without your eyes. Lenia, your parents would be so disappointed in you, and you can have a chance to tell your story when I make them kick you out of this community themselves. And Cozy, well we don’t need somepony like you poisoning this community, or any community for that matter. We won’t have to worry about that though because I’ll make sure you never bother anyone ever again.”
Cozy stared in panic at Contume before turning to Troth and Lenia. Both ponies had their eyes clenched shut in tears and fear. The guilt Cozy felt was incomparable. She knew she was the reason why everyone else was suffering and she was ready to accept her fate, knowing there was nothing she could do against a master unicorn’s magic.
There’s one thing stronger than unicorn magic. Troth’s words rang loudly in Cozy’s head.
From the ground, Cozy was lifted off by Contume’s magic into the air. Cozy struggled to breathe, but she knew she had to concentrate. Contume’s grip on Cozy became tighter as she was slowly being crushed, but Cozy forced the thought of that out of her mind. Through everything, she focused on her friends. She focused on Lenia, the one who aided her to help her accomplish her goal, and she remembered Troth, the pegasus who had her back throughout everything so far.
Suddenly Cozy fell to the ground. She opened her eyes to Contume’s magic still glowing, but he was very much confused. Contume strained, but Cozy just glared at him. She looked down at Troth and Lenia before placing her hooves on each of them, comforting them and relieving the strain of Contume’s magic.
Lenia stood up. “What’s happening?”
With Cozy still holding on to Lenia and Troth, the three ponies became covered in a different colored aura. They left the ground with neither Troth or Cozy’s wings moving.
“Oh yes!” Troth cheered. “The book is right! Friendship is more powerful than any creature’s magic, and it’s making us immune to Contume’s!”
From below, Candid caught a glimpse of the three ponies floating higher in the air. He turned to Opul, managing to move his arm to take hold of Opul’s claw. Opul’s moved with slightly more control as Droll moved to get a grip on the two creatures. Pretty soon, the three non-ponies were following Cozy’s lead with Candid leading the charge of the non ponies.
Contume widened his eyes in fear. “What? That’s impossible! You can’t control that power!” He lit his horn up again to try and regain control over the six creatures, but the six were already immune, caught up in two separate bubbles of a white aura.
From the ponies’s friendship bubble, Cozy smirked down at Contume. “Checkmate.”
Immediately, energy beams from both bubbles zapped out, going in multiple different directions, hitting Contume multiple times and crashing him through the window over the community he used to own.